Christians are all hypocrites. Just ask anyone.
As Christians, we hear it all the time, and it offends us. But … is it true?
Spoiler alert: it’s true.
Think about it – Christians hold to a higher standard. A holy, immovable, unattainable, irrevocable standard of such lofty height as to be on the level of God Himself.
And we fall short. Every. Stinkin’. Day.
What’s a justly scorned Christian to do?
We seek forgiveness, and repentance, and try again. But isn’t there an easier way?
The world doesn’t offer much help. They will deny their hypocrisy – or worse – justify it! Or they simply adjust the standard. Lower the bar. Give up. If the standard is unattainable then the standard must be changed. But God doesn’t work that way. He sets the standard and refuses to change.
So here’s the deal – the standard is only unattainable if we only rely on ourselves. We need help. Heavenly help.
God knew we couldn’t do it on our own, but He also could not change the standard. He loves us too much to leave us in obscure mediocrity. He understands we are going to be hypocritical, but He can’t leave us there.
The Old Testament is full of God’s chosen people – Israel – and their rise and fall from prosperity to destruction. They embrace God’s plan, promise to obey His instruction, and experience abundance. Then they get too comfortable, ignore the blessings of God, and God lets them stumble and fall into oblivion. When they hit rock bottom, they turn back to God. Then fall again.
Over and over and over.
God’s chosen people? Or hypocrites! Or both.
This side of heaven, Christians seek God and He finds us. Then we seek to follow Him and become much closer to Him. We embrace His love and grace and share it with our neighbors. Until we don’t.
Hypocrites.
Fortunately, God’s grace is eternal, especially for those who seek His heart. He understands we will be in a constant struggle between the Spirit and the flesh. Paul called it a war, and it is a war. Some battles are won, and some lost.
Even better, we know if we will consistently turn to Him after we stumble, and keep our hearts aligned with Him, the victory will be ours. In fact, we already have victory in the war. But we’ll have to keep relying on Him to get up every time we fall.
The war was won on the Cross. I’ve read the last chapter.
So what do we do with the naysayers who we see as “accusing” us of hypocrisy, but we know are simply “observing” simple truths? We love them. Show grace for them. We confess our shortcomings in humility and share of our struggle to overcome.
We admit our hypocrisy. We tell of the hope we have in Jesus. We acknowledge our inability to attain “perfection” and how God’s grace covers us anyway.
We confess, it’s not really about us, but about Him. We get up, dust ourselves off, and set out once again for the highest of standards.